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Show 310 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN: OR, rejoice in your freedom, think that you owe it to that good old soul, and p.1.y it back in kindness to his wife and children. Think of your f1·ecdom, every time you see UNcJ,E ToM's CABIN; and let it be a memorial to put you all in mind to follow in his steps, and be as honest and faithful and Christian as he was." CHAPTER XLV. CONCLUDING RE~L\RRS. THE writer has often been inquired of, by conespondonts from different parts of the country, whether this narrative is a true one; and to these inquiries she wm give one general answer. The separate incidents that compose the narrative nrc, to a. very great extent, authentic, occurring, many of them, either under her own observation, or that of her personal friends. She or her friends have obscrvcJ characters the counterpart of almost all that arc here introduced; and many of the sayings are 'tord for word as heard herself, or r eported to her. ' 11he personal appearance of Eliza, the character ascribed to her, arc sketches dmwn from life. The incorruptible fidelity, piety and honesty, of U nole Tom, had moro than one development, to her personal knowledge. Some of the most deeply tragic and romantic, some of the most terrible incidents, have also their parallel in reality. The incident of the mother's crossing the Ohio river on the ice is a well-known fact. The story LIFE AMONG Tll.B LOWLY. 811 of " old Prue," in the second volume, was an incident that fell under the pcrsonn.l observation of a brother of the writer then co1lccting-clcrk to a large mcrcnntile house, in Ne,; Orlen.ns. From the same source was derived the character of the ~h~~tcr L~grce. Of him her brother thus wrote, speaking of vts1tmg h1s plantation, on a. collecting tour: "He actually made me feel of his fist, which was like a blacksmith's hammer, or a nodule of jron, telling me that it was 'calloused with knocking down niggcrs.' When I left the plantation, I drew a long breath, and felt as if I had escaped from an ogre's den.'' 'l'hat the tragi cal fitte of Tom, also, has too many times had its parallel, there arc living witnesses, all over our land, to testify. Let it be remembered that in all southern states it is a principle of j urisprudencc that no person of colored lineage can testify in a suit against a white, and it wiU bo easy to see that such n. case rna.y occur, wherever there is a man whoso passions outweigh his interests, and a slave who has manhood or principle enough to resist his will. There is, actually, nothing to protect the slave's life, but the character of the master. F acts too shocking to be contemplated occasionally force their way to the public car, and the comment that one often hears made on them is more shocking than the thing itself. It is said, "Very likely such cases may now and then occur, but they are no sample of general practice.'' If the laws of New England were so arranged that a master could now and t!ten torture an apprentice to death, without a possibility of being brought to justice, would it be received with equal composure ? Would it be said, " These cases are rare, and no samples of general practice"?- ~rhis injustice is an inherent one in the slave system,-it cannot exist without it. The public and shameles• sale of beautiful mulatto and |